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STUDIES IN TERROR

THE STATISTICS DISGUISE THE HORROR

STUDIES IN TERROR
November111991

STUDIES IN TERROR

THE STATISTICS DISGUISE THE HORROR

November111991

STUDIES IN TERROR

THE STATISTICS DISGUISE THE HORROR

Sept. 14,1990: Guy Santerre, a 34-year-old construction contractor and cocaine abuser, murdered his wife, Louise Prieur-Santerre, 29, in their suburban Laval, Que., home with a knife. Santerre also killed the couple’s sevenmonth-old son, David, and their five-year-old daughter, Geneviève, whom he stabbed more than 20 times. Last week, a jury found Santerre guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, and a judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison with no chance of parole. According to trial evidence, Santerre’s wife had asked him for a divorce a week before the killings.

March 6, 1991: Bernice Bridget Whiff en, a 17-year-old single mother with a one-monthold child in Sydney, N.S., died when a former boyfriend, Kevin Wainwright, 20, stabbed her repeatedly with a knife. Wainwright had an interest in satanism. On Oct. 11, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was remanded to a psychiatric hospital for further assessment. On Nov. 29, a judge will decide whether Wainwright should be retained in custody indefinitely as an insane person.

May 4, 1991: Around 1:16 a.m., a masked intruder entered the house of a married 28year-old Calgary woman whose husband was away. The woman dialled the 911 emergency line and screamed, but the intruder hung up the phone and proceeded to assault her sexually. Instead of sending a squad car, the police tried to call the woman back. Twenty-one minutes later, after the intruder had left, police reestablished contact, and she reported the rape. Only then did they send officers to her house. Calgary police said that they have tightened their response procedures. §

Aug. 21, 1991: Rose Merasti, an unem¡ ployed 35-year-old Vancouver woman, met i Joseph Reed, 22, while the two were out | drinking. Merasti accepted an invitation from “ Reed to join him in his room at the Blood Alley | residence, a skid-row rooming house. But the £ two began to argue—and Reed struck Merasti. ™ Moments later, she died from massive head f injuries after falling from Reed’s third-floor I window. Charged with manslaughter, Reed J pleaded guilty to aggravated assault last month f and will be sentenced in two weeks. ~

Oct. 13, 1991: Marie-Claude Côté, 17, a § student who lives in Montreal’s chic Outre1 mont neighborhood, went missing after she « visited La Barina nightclub. The teenager was | last seen by a friend on the dance floor at the

bar. Her coat was left in the cloak room, and one of her black suede high-heeled shoes was found in the parking lot. Montreal police said that they were were checking out dozens of leads. A $32,000 reward has been posted for information on Côté’s whereabouts.

Oct. 22, 1991: A 17-year-old girl from Oakville, Ont., was beaten, choked and sexually assaulted after entering the deserted upper

deck of a commuter train eastbound for Toronto. Last week, police arrested Terry Ekins, 28, of the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, after two transit officials spotted a man matching the description that the victim had given to the police. Ekins faces charges of aggravated sexual assault, forcible confinement, sexual assault and choking, and was not granted bail. He has not yet had a chance to respond in court to the charges. □

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